Have a music!

I was looking for some inspiration when Shiina Ringo's Tsumi to Batsu (YouTube) came on. Much as I can get snobby about, "Oh, you can't really appreciate it unless you can understand the lyrics," this is one of the most sonically perfect songs I know -- those guitars! That screaming! That little rolled "r" on "yamate-doori"!

But it was a few days ago that I heard the song that I really needed to hear, which is Bump of Chicken's Kanojo to Hoshi no Isu (YouTube). Sometimes I feel silly about liking them because they keep singing about optimism and self-esteem and I wonder if their target audience is about fourteen. But what I really like, in this song and in "Diamond" and in a lot of their other songs, is this insistence on your right to make your voice heard. Their insistence on a participatory culture, and not just a culture of commercial production and consumption. You can spend all your time making snarky comments about the American Idol contestants if you want -- but at some point, you've gotta stand up on your chair and start singing.

Bad translation below.

( Kanojo to Hoshi no Isu )

(no subject)

I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to hobble all the way to this. But I'm posting this just out of the spirit of looking forward to this happening, whether I can manage to be present in person or not.

BLUESTOCKINGS LATE JULY EVENTS CALENDAR
172 Allen Street @ Stanton
Thursday, July 30th @ 7PM - Free
Reading: Women of Color / Science Fiction Showcase
Tonight, we've got new and award-winning authors of speculative fiction,
including: Linda D. Addison, author of "Being Full of Light, Insubstantial" and
the first African-American recipient of the Bram Stoker Award; K. Tempest
Bradford, contributor to "Strange Horizons" and "Interfictions" anthologies; N.
K. Jemisin, contributor to "Abyss & Apex" anthology; and Alaya Dawn Johnson,
author of "The Goblin King." Come listen to their tales and join in the
discussion about women of color in speculative fiction.